31 October 2010
Psalm 24, 29: Ecclus 36.1-17; 1 Cor 12.27-13.13; Matt. 18.21-35

In some ways it is difficult for us as Christians to understand the prayers that call for the destruction of enemies as we are commanded to pray for our own enemies. The difference, if there truly is one, between the old and new covenants is that we are not a nation in space and time, we are aliens and strangers without a country of our own. We have enemies and in some places those enemies are truly lethal and mortal enemies, but not in the sense that Israel had enemies. The prayer here is a call for God to reveal Himself by destroying their enemies and our prayer should be that the Lord reveal Himself by saving our enemies, even if that means our own death.

Forgiveness among brothers follows how to deal with sin among brothers (brothers includes women by the way). Jesus has just taught on how to deal with sin in the church and now it is important to sort out what to do when the process works and the other repents. The answer is either 77 times or 70 times 7 depending on the translation, and what it means is that we are to forgive as often as the other needs it and seeks it. It may seem like a ridiculous standard to have someone continually sin against you and then believe they truly repent but we are in need of a God who extends forgiveness on the same basis. Is there anything in your life that is a continual source of temptation you have not won victory over? Does God forgive that sin and restore you to relationship when you confess and with all sincerity intend to repent? We are called to do the same. Extending forgiveness reminds us of our own need of forgiveness.

In the church we are all given gifts by the Holy Spirit and working together, every one using their gifts, we are the body of Christ. If any of us refrain from offering our gifts to the mutual benefit of the body then we are all weakened. Paul’s vision for the church was a close-knit community working together in all things, not simply a congregation that gathers on Sunday morning primarily for singing and listening and sharing communion. He saw the church as that which can change the world by its mission and ministry of making Christ known in word and deed. Is that the way we understand the church today? Our call is to be an alternative community in the midst of the world, as exiles. The church is not so much come and see, worship as evangelism as it is go and tell, the witness of the other 166 hours in the week.

The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!

30 October 2010
Psalm 55; Ecclus 35.1-17; Rev 13.11-18; Luke 12.32-48

The teacher tells us that all that we do can have the character of sacrifice if we do it unto the Lord. He is calling for time, talent and treasure sacrifice and in those three the Lord delights. One is not a substitute for the other. We cannot do things and have that satisfy the Lord. We cannot make sacrifice of tithes and offerings and have that satisfy the Lord. We must give Him all our lives. We are to be living sacrifices to the Lord and all that we have and all that we are is owed to Him in thanksgiving for all He has done for us. He promises to repay us sevenfold and too often we take that too literally in expectation of money coming back to us. The final portion of the passage is a word against such thinking. Do we offer God bribes or sacrifices? Are we playing at magic and appeasement or are we truly loving and serving Him with glad and joyful hearts?

Do we live anticipatory lives? We are to live as those who are waiting for our master’s return and yet we often are more like the Israelites who waited on Moses to come back down the mountain and determined he might not return so we demand other gods to go with us on the journey. Jesus says that the measure of our discipleship and faith is our attitude towards worldly things, sell all you have, travel light, don’t let the things of earth entangle and encumber you. These are hard words in the consumerist society in which we live and I am not immune to the allure of the eyes and the desires of my heart. Jesus says we are to live expectantly as we await His coming again and that our preparedness to receive Him matters.

The second beast is essentially the high priest for the first beast, directing attention to it and giving it honor. The signs and wonders it does are made possible by the first beast and all that it does serves to convince the world that the first one has real power and causes them to worship and adore the ruler. Ultimately, all power over commerce is given to those who receive the mark of the beast, no one can buy or sell apart from this mark. There may come a time when we have to decide whether the needs of the body are more important than our souls.

Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

29 October 2010
Psalm 40, 54; Ecclus 34.1-8, 18-22; Rev 13.1-10; Luke 12.13-31

It is difficult to know when a dream is of the Lord. We cannot and indeed, must not, presume that anything we see in a dream or vision is from the Lord as we are filled with desires of every kind that might manifest themselves in the same way. In order to determine if a dream or vision is from the Lord we must do a simple thing, ask Him. I had a friend who once was truly given prophetic words and visions but along the way she developed a prideful spirit about this gift and became bitter and angry over anyone who dared question her. Over time, this spirit became a stumbling-block to her and her words became vicious and hate-filled and her visions and dreams became simple manifestations of her own desire to see harm to those whom she despised. We must be careful with dreams and visions that they not become an extension of our own desires.

Jesus warns here against allowing the desires of our hearts to rule our lives. It would have been common in disputes over inheritance to ask a teacher or lawyer to make a determination concerning the fairness of the disposition in the same way we take such cases to court today. Jesus, however, refuses to enter the dispute but instead questions the motivation of the request, more for me and less for thee. He uses the parable of the man with a bumper crop who builds bigger barns, a proper solution to the dilemma in most cases but does it take into consideration the needs of others. He chooses to content his soul in the abundance of his possessions rather than in the Lord. In this teaching Jesus is not calling us to Christian nihilism as the creation is good, it cannot, however, keep us from the best without losing the character of good.

The dragon gives power to an earthly ruler who is known as the beast and the whole earth goes after the beast except those whose names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life. John expresses amazement that the world follows this beast as it seems so obvious to him from the perspective of heaven that this is an abomination. Perspective makes all the difference. From an earthly perspective it will not seem so clear that this is actually a hideous thing but from John’s vantage point in the revelation he sees through God’s eyes. That same discernment is available to us if we are willing to let go of the desires that entangle us and hinder us from seeing clearly. Our vision is clouded by desire and earthly ambition and we lack discernment.

Happy are those who make
the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after false gods.
You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us;
none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be more than can be counted.

28 October 2010
Psalm 50; Ecclus 31.12-18, 25-32.2; Rev 12.7-17; Luke 11.53-12.12

Is the writer urging moderation in all things or is he speaking of something greater like self-discipline? It seems likely that he is calling us to self-discipline, something many seem to have forgotten. Yesterday we heard of sins of the tongue and today we have sins of the eye and the palate. We are to discipline ourselves not to take our satisfaction from food and wine like Isaiah encourages in his prophecy, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” In all that we have and all that we enjoy do we leave room for the most important thing of all or are we satisfied with that which always requires more?

The Pharisees are angry because Jesus has exposed them and they now do all they can to trap Him and diminish Him in the eyes of the people. His warning to the disciples not to fear only those who can harm the body is a word well considered as they will find themselves on the receiving end of this hostility after Jesus is gone and they will have reason to fear in the flesh but not in the Spirit. Once Jesus has overcome death and the grave and set His Spirit on them and in them they know that death is not the final answer and therefore the final word belongs to God and it is life to those who confess Him before men. The Spirit of God is the wisdom of God and it sees beyond this life to that which is truly life and calls us onwards and calls us from fear to faith.

The battle over the child is waged in the heavens and Michael and the angels and archangels fight valiantly and win the victory, throwing satan out of heaven. John gives us several descriptions of this dragon to let us know who he is. He is the ancient serpent, the one from the garden. He is known as the devil and the satan, the one who has always been the accuser of the brethren (see Job 1 and Zechariah 3). Those who are victorious are those who have persevered unto death, not fearing the ones who have power only over the body. As the dragon cannot destroy the woman he wages war against her offspring. We need not fear, however, we must persevere in the battle to the end if we would win the crown of life.

Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.

27 October 2010
Psalm 119.49-72; Ecclus 28.14-26; Rev 12.1-6; Luke 11.37-52

Is there any weapon greater than the tongue? It has destroyed many. The tongue has great power and often we use it for the wrong purpose. It can destroy others and it can destroy us. The question always exists, do we have power over the tongue or does it have power over us? The greatest regrets of my life tend to be those things I have said or not said. What would our churches look like if we undertook to bless one another rather than curse? What would happen if we, as Christians, made the decision every hour that we would no longer engage in gossip or murmuring? What would the world see if we chose to speak to one another as Paul suggested, in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and encouraged one another in this life?

Does Jesus need to bridle his tongue here? No, because His purpose is to call them to repentance. He is not accusing them falsely, He is speaking the truth. They have been concerned with washing the hands rather than dealing with the stuff that is inside their hearts. The more important work is to know your motives and your heart and to allow Him to work to change those things. The lawyer who spoke up and said that when Jesus spoke harshly to the Pharisees he insulted the lawyers also must surely have regretted that statement as Jesus turns on him and his ilk and says, “No, I have an entirely different set of woes for you, thanks for reminding me.” We have always needed prophets to speak into our lives and expose the heart’s motivations to call us back to Him.

As the woman prepares to give birth to the child that will save the world the dragon comes to devour the child in one of the most sinister passages in the Bible. The imagery of the scene of a woman about to deliver with the dragon crouched before her as a mid-wife or doctor to receive the child into the world but with the intention of devouring the child is arresting. Is this a picture of the church that is, in John’s time, emerging in the world and the desire of satan to destroy it here in its infancy? We need to be aware that we indeed have an enemy both individually and corporately and that we need to be careful that we allow him no foothold in our lives and in our churches lest we become a casualty in this cosmic warfare.

You have dealt well with your servant,
O Lord, according to your word.
Teach me good judgement and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.

26 October 2010
Psalm 45; Ecclus 24.1-12; Rev 11.14-19; Luke 11.27-36

What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge? In the garden wisdom would have been to abstain from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at the temptation of the serpent in contradiction to the command of God. We can have plenty of knowledge and completely lack wisdom. We can have information and knowledge about the universe and not have the wisdom to see its creator. We are not to worship the creation but to acknowledge the goodness of it and see that it points to the wisdom of the creator. Wisdom is the coherent principle of the universe. Creation is impressive in its variety and vastness, but the wisdom that brought into being the universe and sustains it is wisdom. Gravity, the nuclear forces, all that is required to sustain the creation over a vast amount of time and to make possible the conditions for life are surely more than accidental, they are based on the wisdom of the one who called it into being. Wisdom and knowledge are very different.

Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord and here Jesus says that knowing the word of God isn’t wisdom, hearing it and doing it are wisdom. He goes on to speak about wisdom in the next paragraph with respect to signs that they should lead one to right conclusions and right belief as the queen of the south understood Solomon’s wisdom to be from God. Even the people of the dreaded Nineveh responded to Jonah’s message and repented in dust and ashes. This people believes they have knowledge and yet their knowing has not become understanding. It has not enabled them to believe in Jesus. That which they believe to be enlightenment has become a hindrance to seeing the light.

Now comes the time for the reign of God. The loud voices in heaven proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God to the world. Their proclamation is judgment on the world and wrath of God on the unrighteous and the reward for the righteous. There is more to come, the victory is won but the battle rages on. Until satan is overthrown the battle will continue to rage.

Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever.

25 October 2010
Psalm 41, 52; Ecclus 19.4-17; Rev 11.1-14; Luke 11.14-26

There are two basic warnings in the Ecclesiasticus passage, don’t gossip and go to the source. We are warned to guard our lips and refrain from repeating what we have heard. Gossip is one of the great temptations in our world and our society thrives on information without respect to whether it is true. In the information age in which we live it is perhaps worse than in the time the writer lived as the gossip can travel further faster than ever before. James was deeply concerned with this sin as it seems to have a way of infecting nearly every church because it infects nearly every Christian. It takes effort and discipline to overcome this tendency, a part of working out our salvation. The second warning is like the first, when we hear that a friend or neighbor has reputedly done or said something we need to go to them and confirm it before we make assumptions. Either way, true or false, this is good practice as it allows them to speak into it if it is false and allows them to repent if true. (Only if we do it by way of query rather than accusation however.)

There are three basic ways of working out who Jesus is: true belief, determining his powers come from elsewhere, or asking for further proof when none is needed. All three of these are present in this story. Some believed, some said it was the power of satan himself working through Jesus and others asked for more signs. Jesus responds only to the ones who attribute His work to Beelzebub (literally the lord of the flies) and He responds logically. Does it make sense for satan to overthrow satan? The expression “finger of God” relates to the Exodus when Pharaoh’s magicians cannot duplicate the plague of gnats and the use this expression to attribute the work not to Moses but to God, they believed and testified. There are only two options Jesus says, you are either with Him or against Him, agnosticism and atheism are alike in the eyes of God.

Nowhere in the Revelation does it say that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah but that is the traditional interpretation as the authority given to them relates to the ministries of these two men. They may cause drought and bring plagues on the earth, the works these men did in their lives. The law and the prophets testify to Jesus and these men, present at the Transfiguration, represent all the law and the prophets. Their deaths will be a source of comfort to the world as their reign will be part of judgment and yet death is not final, they are resurrected as a sign and then called to heaven yet the world still rejects this sign.

I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
for ever and ever.
I will thank you for ever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good.

24 October 2010
Psalm 63, 98: Ecclus 18.19-33; 1 Cor 10.15-24; Matt. 18.15-20

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That would summarize the first set of proverbs in our reading. Another would be “Measure twice, cut once.” We (or at least I) tend to move ahead boldly rather than doing those things on the front end that will make things smoother. If we think before we act and learn before we speak we will save ourselves many problems in life. The remainder of the passage is a warning against allowing our circumstances to rule over us, to keep our lives balanced and focused on the Lord rather than our situation. Jesus constantly warned against allowing the worldly things to determine who we are.

Jesus gave us the prescription for dealing with problems in the church caused by sin. There are problems that are not due to sin and then there are problems where sin is involved. We can disagree over programs, music, etc, and sin isn’t necessarily involved, personal preference is not a sin. Other problems in the church relate to interpersonal sin and often we excuse it with the words, “That’s just how John is.” If “the way John is” means that John runs over people, demands his own way all the time, or treats people shabbily, then that is something John needs to change and so long as we don’t call him out on it, we are not helping him see or deal with sin that God wants to change and the body continues to suffer. It is important that we not excuse sin in the church but rather deal honestly with it and here Jesus anticipates we will need to do so and gives us the methodology.

We are not to use our freedom in Christ as an opportunity to sin. Paul says that it is important that we use that freedom wisely. He uses particularly the example of participating in two feasts, one the Eucharist, a remembrance of and a sacrifice to Christ and the other a pagan feast. How can we discern the body, participate in the feast of thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us while also participating in pagan feasts where, since the sacrifice is not offered to the Lord is offered to a demon (one who accepts worship and sacrifice is not of heaven, see how the angels always refuse to accept worship in the Bible)? In participating in the feast, Paul says, we have also participated in the worship, and uses the example of the meal at the Old Testament peace offering as a way of thinking about the issue. Yes, we have freedom in Christ, but we must be careful with that freedom, as Christ Himself was careful.

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
to judge the earth.

23 October 2010
Psalm 30, 32; Ecclus. 15:9-20; Rev. 10:1-11; Luke 11:1-13

We are not predestined to sin. We participate in the fall of humankind and the propensity to sin is in us yet we retain the ability to choose the good but the problem is that we often determine good apart from God. Good to us can be things that are not good in the eyes of God. Gluttony is a sin but eating food is not. Greed is a sin but money itself is not evil. Pornography is a sin but the naked human form is not. God pronounced all of creation good but when we worship creation we have pronounced it more than good. It is important for us to keep all things in perspective and to appreciate them as God does. In that we will have true wisdom, knowing the difference between “good” and “the good.”

The Lord’s Prayer helps us with perspective. It begins with worship, moves to recognition that things can be better than they are and will be when His kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven before moving on to petition for this present life. It reminds us that this is not the better country of the promise of God, that is still to come. Jesus’ teaching tells us two things, the goodness of God and our relationship to Him. He is likened to a good parent but He is even better than a good parent. What He gives are good things. Do we believe that? If all we have comes from Him and all that happens is according to His will then they are somehow “good.” That is in keeping with Romans 8.28 but we have to ask Him to show us how it can be good sometimes as it seems bad to us.

This seventh scroll is announced by the voice of the thunders and yet John is told not to write down what was said but is instructed to eat the scroll as Ezekiel before him had been told to do. John’s experience was like that of Ezekiel, it was honey in the mouth but its aftertaste was bitter. The Word of God is indeed sweet to us until it convicts us of our own sin. John is to prophesy concerning the sin of humanity and in particular God’s people to whom He writes, in order to prepare them for the coming in judgment of the Lord, just as John the Baptist had done. We are called to that same ministry, the preparation of the bride for the wedding day which comes after the purgation of the judgment of God on all that He has created. We need to get our priorities straight and realize that in the end all that is not Him will be burned away.

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

22 October 2010
Psalm 31; Ecclus. 11:2-20; Rev. 9:13-21; Luke 10:38-42

“Good things and bad, life and death, poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.” This is true and yet we judge people based on outward appearances and material blessings. Have you ever known anyone who did all the right things and yet couldn’t get ahead? Have you ever known “good” people who seemed to have the proverbial dark cloud over their heads and all the bad things happened to them? These verses today have the ring of Ecclesiastes to them in some places and in others we clearly see some of Jesus’ teachings (vv 18-19 in particular). Job understood the truth of that verse I quoted at the beginning, saying of his losses in chapter 1, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away” and then to his wife in chapter 2, Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" How do we develop an attitude towards all things that we are able to be thankful for blessings and yet hold them lightly?

In that first passage we are enjoined against doing too many things and here Jesus repeats that warning to Martha. Today we wear the ability to multi-task as a badge of honor. We live in a world that values the ability to do many things at once and yet Jesus says that we need to give our full attention to one thing at a time. We need to determine what is most important in life and then attend to that thing. It doesn’t mean that all that Martha was doing was unimportant, it simply means that Mary had her priorities right, she recognized Jesus for who He was and dropped everything else to attend to Him and receive from Him. We can only receive from Him all that He has to offer if we give Him our full attention.

Although a third of humankind is destroyed by the plagues in this judgment, the remainder do not repent and turn to the Lord. Think of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel after years of drought predicted by Elijah and then the miracle of fire from heaven to light the fire in the contest and yet the Baal prophets do not repent. After all Pharaoh had seen and experienced in the plagues, how could he not acknowledge the power of the Lord over all things? While it seems incredible to think that the plagues here described would not get the attention of the people, we know that it is within human nature to reject God-based revelation. After all Jesus had done, He died on a cross.

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

21 October 2010
Psalm 37:1-18; Ecclus. 10:1-18; Rev. 9:1-12; Luke 10:25-37

Wise and Godly leadership is important to the welfare of a land and of its people. We are called to pray for our leaders, both in the selection of the leaders and in their governance. It is our duty as Christians to pray for all our leaders, whether we agree with them or not. We are also called to pray for our enemies. I wish that more Christians prayed for our leaders than criticized their every move. Perhaps we could start something. Every time we criticize our leaders we could require ourselves to pray for them in return, that the Lord give them wisdom and His Spirit to guide them. If we would have wise leaders who follow the will of the Lord it is incumbent on us to ask God to bless them in this way and to pray fervently for that. He is sovereign over all kingdoms and all times, do our prayers reflect that belief?

The lawyer had two motives for his questions, to test Jesus and to justify himself. I think I recognize those motives. Jesus tells him that he knows what to do to inherit eternal life, love God and love your neighbor, now, as the Nike ads said, “Just do it.” Well, first I need some help, who is my neighbor? What he is really asking is, who do I have to love and who is it okay for me to ignore because he knows you can’t do evil to anyone. Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly but tells the parable of the Good Samaritan and then asks the question, “Who was the neighbor?” The first two characters were driven by law considerations to avoid contact with blood and perhaps a dead body but the Samaritan was driven by loving concern for a fellow human being. The answer to the question of “Who is my neighbor?” is “Whoever needs a neighbor.”

What a horrifying picture this reading from Revelation presents to us! Locusts are set forth from the pit of hell onto earth not, as in olden times, to destroy crops but to destroy people. They torment human beings for five months as a plague and in that season the misery will be so great that people will long for death to end the misery but it will not come. It may sound horrible but in this there is mercy, these woes are signs to call people to repent and turn to God, particularly since the sealed ones are not subject to the woe. Hearts are hardened against belief in God, however. We can find natural reasons for all things and neglect the obvious answer, God, because we don’t actually want the God who has such power.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

20 October 2010
Psalm 38; Ecclus. 7:4-14; Rev. 8:1-13; Luke 10:17-24

Many of these proverbial sayings sound just like Jesus’ teaching. What He taught was not outside of the word that had already been revealed to the people. His application points were solid. The writer speaks here of being humble, not seeking after position and not thinking too highly of ourselves. Sounds like Jesus telling the people not to presume to the chief seats at a banquet but, rather, to take the lowest position that you might be called up higher. Likewise, don’t grow weary when you pray sounds like the story of the persistent widow. Don’t repeat yourself when you pray, seems like Jesus enjoined against vain repetition. Nearly all these come down to issues of pride and humility.

Success! The mission of the seventy was a resounding success and Jesus exulted with them in their return but with a warning. We are not to set anything above the gift of eternal life, even when our ministry is bearing fruit for the kingdom. In that there is always temptation to pride. Of course, when ministry is struggling is also a temptation to pride in believing we should be rewarded for our faithful efforts even when He isn’t doing His part. (Anyone know that attitude?) Jesus rejoices with the seventy, give thanks to the Father who has made this possible, and then speaks to the disciples privately reminding them how blessed they are to be here in this moment in time. They don’t deserve it, certainly not more than those faithful servants who have gone before and suffered persecution.

Can you imagine utter silence in heaven for 90 minutes? Before the seventh seal is opened, silence and then the prayers of the saints. Then, the final judgments of God come to the earth, beginning with four trumpet judgments in the natural, created order. That which God had created and declared to be good, is now diminished by His judgment because of us. Many today worship creation in the same way humans have done since the beginning, and here we see God’s power over His own creation and yet they will not turn away from worshipping creation to see the creator. We like the idea of a beneficent God far better than an omnipotent one.

Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me;
make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation.

19 October 2010
Psalm 26, 28; Ecclus. 6:5-17; Rev. 7:9-17; Luke 10:1-16

Do we adequately value our friends? Friends, particularly Christian friends, are a great gift from Him. Faithful friends who will walk with us in our journey, when times are good and when difficulty comes, are indeed impossible to esteem or value highly enough. In the song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus there is a line that always causes me to smile, “Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer.” My first thought is that if the answer to the question is “yes” then you need some new friends or a better understanding of friendship. The truth is that we could all answer yes to that question at some time or other and at any given time in our lives it is possible that it could be answered yes with respect to us. We have no greater, more loving, faithful or steadfast friend than Jesus and our goal should be to emulate Him in this regard.

The seventy are sent out ahead of Jesus to proclaim, as John the Baptist, the coming of the kingdom of God. Their proclamation, however, is more complete than John’s in some ways as they are to heal the sick who are in the towns as a sign to accompany the proclamation. Those that do not receive them are to be protested against with the wiping the dust off the sandals. They have seen and heard and have chosen against the kingdom, they have not been even as receptive as the Babylonians to Jonah’s message. We are to Jesus as He is to the Father, representatives with full credentials. Do we live up to that charge?

We aren’t told that the ones with white robes are martyrs but we believe them to be based on clues in the text. They are before the throne and have come through the great tribulation and it is assumed that this implies that they have been martyred. They have made the supreme sacrifice on behalf of the Lord and have received a reward for their faithfulness. They are now in a place where they shall no longer suffer want or lack or trial for they are with the Lamb. Are we living for the kingdom of God or the kingdom of man?

Blessed be the Lord,
for he has heard the sound of my pleadings.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

18 October 2010
Psalm 25; Ecclus. 4:20-5:7; Rev. 7:1-8; Luke 9:51-62

Self-reliance is the ultimate sinful behavior. Any time we rely solely on self, we sin against God’s sovereignty and His Lordship. The writer is telling us to take nothing for granted. Don’t trust in wealth, it is a gift and it can be taken away and where are you then? He tells us to be quick to confess our sins but also to not allow the promised of forgiveness to coerce us to sin boldly. Martin Luther’s famous quote, “Sin boldly, but love God more” does not imply that we can sin with impunity, it is meant to say to us that in this life will come circumstances when whatever we do is sinful yet the love of God is to guide us in those situations. We are reminded that both mercy and judgment are characteristics of God and He will not leave the guilty unpunished. How do we live out that balance in our lives, the balance John suggests when he wrote that Jesus was full of grace and truth?

The time for judgment had not come therefore it was proper to rebuke the disciples over their desire to judge the Samaritans. As we know from the book of Acts, one of the first successful missions outside the nation was in Samaria with Philip. Until Jesus’ work was complete there was no judgment, particularly on outsiders. Here, at the end of his life, we see people offering to come along as disciples but Jesus dissuaded them by telling them to count the cost. We need to be aware that there is a cost of following Him, the promise isn’t actually what so many preach today, the way to a better material life.

The servants of God are sealed before this judgment of God is unleashed. They are marked for protection as God’s own. This is an interlude in the execution of God’s judgment, an intervention on behalf of the saints. We are precious to him in the way the Israelites were in Egypt. In that first exodus they received protection from some of the plagues that befell the Egyptians, as a mercy to them and as a sign to the Egyptians. This sealing would seem to function in the same way.

Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

17 October 2010
Psalm 148, 149, 150; Ecclus. 4:1-10; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Matt. 16:13-20

These things are wisdom but they are more than simply wisdom, they are the law. I don’t mean to say that they are commandments of God but they make the application of the law to life. We need to understand the demands of the law and the explanation of the law so that we are able to live into God’s will for our lives. Here, the writer makes it simple for us, do justice and treat everyone the same. We are to care about those less fortunate than ourselves, we are to reach out to those with less and who have no one to help them. In other words we are to do unto others as the Lord has done unto us, caring for us and providing for us who are helpless in the universe without Him.

The options for Jesus’ identity are those which point to God: Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, one of the prophets. Those are some heady options, people are thinking in the right direction, they just aren’t thinking high enough. Were the disciples nervous about Jesus’ direct question to them? We know what Peter thought but not what the rest were thinking. Peter gets the supreme attaboy, the Father told you the truth, you are the rock on which I will build the church in my name. Jesus was truly excited about this moment, they were getting it, maybe they weren’t so dense after all. Too bad for Peter and Jesus that the moment wouldn’t last and Peter, the rock, would be so weak at the trial of Jesus. The Good News is that after Pentecost Peter was the rock when he, himself, was tried.

Paul speaks of the testing of faith and we need to be prepared for tests of faith. As he points out, the faith that brought the people out of Egypt was not enough to sustain them when the going got tough. Our faith will be tested and tried and we need to know that and allow God to shine through those tests. Peter had great faith in the moment we just read but we also know that soon his faith would fail when circumstances didn’t match up with his expectations. Most of the situations Paul notes are when the people were disappointed with God in the wilderness. Their reaction was to look back to Egypt and believe they were better treated there. Are we moving forward with God no matter what comes or are we looking back to Egypt or, worse, Sodom as Lot’s wife did?

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!

16 October 2010
Psalm 20, 21; Ecclus. 3:17-31; Acts 28:17-31; Luke 9:37-50

What would it mean to walk humbly before God? Would it mean that we take nothing for granted, that we never assume or presume to know what we do not know from Him? Moses is described in the Word as the most humble man on earth and he spent time in the Tent of Meeting to learn about the Lord and His ways. Humility is one of the most important traits of Jesus, and perhaps the most overlooked. Constantly He speaks of hearing the Father’s voice in all things, no matter how trivial it might seem to us. Decisions that seem obvious to others require prayer for Jesus to discern the will of the Father. Here we see the writer imploring us to walk humbly and to remember who we are at all times, never to take on things too great for us and never to get out of place. The warning is strong for those of position and power and we must always remember that warning. The best leaders are prayerful people.

The disciples are humbled several times. They are unable to heal this child even though in the past they have done miraculous things. They are caught out in a ridiculous argument about who is the greatest. Finally, they are told not to concern themselves with those who are not part of the party who are doing things in the name of Jesus. We are limited, we are not Jesus, and there are others whom we do not know who are also called and gifted. It is important for us to remember who we are.

Paul, in chains in Rome, continues to proclaim His Savior, Jesus. The Jews from Rome seem not to have received word from Jerusalem about Paul but they have heard of Christianity that everywhere it is spoken against, it has a bad reputation among Jews who describe it as a sect of Judaism. Paul takes the time to meet with them and explain things and, as always, some believe and some don’t and in the end Paul is reminded that the prophets have always said that some will not see and hear. Even in chains, Paul is ministering and spreading the Gospel. How many opportunities have we lost because we lived under the circumstances instead of allowing God to be glorified in them?

Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.

15 October 2010
Psalm 16, 17; Ecclus. 1:1-10,18-27; Acts 28:1-16; Luke 9:28-36

Wisdom is created, therefore there is a time when it was not. There is not a time before God the creator, and there is nothing outside of Him except what He has created therefore all wisdom comes from God. Does it not make sense that the height of wisdom then is knowledge about God? Is wisdom not found in knowing His ways and doing them? One of the most basic teachings in the Bible is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and we see it throughout the Old Testament in particular in the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Do we understand who we are speaking about when we speak of God or the Lord? He is the one who spoke and all that we know, all that has ever been known and all that ever will be known was brought into being. That is more power than we can imagine and we would do well to acknowledge that power in the form of fear and worship if we would begin to get wisdom. Wisdom has a source and we know that it is found in the Lord and He makes it available to us in the form of the Holy Spirit living in us.

What the disciples see this day is what will eventually be apparent to all of us. They see Jesus as light with a form, the body becomes transparent with light, an unearthly light that cannot be achieved by men. What they learn in this moment in time is that Jesus stands alone, He is not compared with Moses and Elijah, He is what they were pointing towards, He is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, and in the end, the disciples must understand Him as greater than all things, as John says, the Word made flesh. He is the wisdom, grace, mercy, truth, and love of God. Both John and Peter point to this moment in their writings. John says we have seen His glory, glory as of the one and only and in 2 Peter 1 he affirms that he was eyewitness to Jesus’ majesty and he heard the voice from heaven.

On the island of Malta Paul continues to witness to the power of the risen Christ. He is delivered from a snake bite as Mark 16 promises and then through him a wealthy man’s son is healed. Whatever situation Paul found himself in was all the same, an opportunity to testify to Jesus and the power living within of the Holy Spirit. Do we take this same attitude towards suffering and trouble? Every situation is an opportunity for God.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

14 October 2010
Psalm 18:1-20; Jonah 3:1-4:11; Acts 27:27-44; Luke 9:18-27

Maybe it seems silly to you that the Ninevites would react to Jonah’s message as they do but consider the following. They had recently lost a battle which had cost them territory for the first time in nearly a century. There had just been a total eclipse of the sun, often considered to be a precursor of doom. There had also recently been an earthquake in the area. The Ninevites may have been prepared to hear a visiting prophet with a message of judgment from God. They may not have recognized the God whom Jonah proclaimed but they may well have been paying attention to the signs (unlike the Egyptians in the book of Exodus). Jonah’s reaction to God’s forbearance with the people of Nineveh was not pleasing to Jonah but his statement on God’s willingness to delay judgment tells us that he believed in God’s goodness but had no desire to see it for his enemies. Jesus tells us to love our enemies. The book of Jonah tells us that this attitude was always what God wanted from His people.

What does it mean to deny ourselves and follow Jesus? For me, the decision point came down to whether to continue pursuing a career in finance or whether to go to seminary but that is not prescriptive for everyone. Denying self to follow Jesus can mean that we evaluate our priorities to determine whether there is anything in our lives more important than Jesus because He says on multiple occasions that we are to have nothing ahead of Him if we are to be His disciples. Psalm 37 says: Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 119 is an ode to the glories of the law, David’s statement that when he set himself on God’s word that everything in life was better. I believe that Jesus’ command here is meant to call us to Himself in the same way, that if we delight ourselves in Him the desires of our hearts will be transformed in such a way that we will see Him and enjoy Him in all things. Peter had to give up his desire for the Messiah of his preference in order to accept the One who died on a cross and rose from the dead. He had to give up the desire for earthly importance and thrones in order to receive the crown of glory.

The sailors begin to trust Paul. They thought to surreptitiously lower the ship’s boat into the sea and the men could take this smaller vessel to safety but Paul warned against it in the Spirit. They then chose to cut the boat loose and let go of that hope. Finally, their desire to live overcame their desire to save the ship for which they had toiled for 14 days without eating, and they ran it aground, casting off everything that encumbered their progress, letting the steering mechanism grow loose and trusting in nothing other than God but still planning to kill the prisoners whose lives did not matter to them. Fortunately, the centurion was faithful to his charge and dissuaded them from acting on their intentions.

I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
so I shall be saved from my enemies.

13 October 2010
Psalm 119:1-24; Jonah 1:17-2:10; Acts 27:9-26; Luke 9:1-17

Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish is remarkable in that he has great faith that even here God can deliver him. In the first two days did he have no hope and then suddenly realize he had lived and that God may have done this? Have you ever felt that circumstances have swallowed hope? Jonah’s prayer is certainly not a set of magic words that compel God to change your circumstances but it is important that we remember, like Jonah, that no matter where we are, God is sovereign over all things and that He is worthy of our worship without respect to our circumstances. Sometimes He doesn’t change our circumstances but, rather, He changes us in our circumstances.

The disciples get their first taste of what it will be like for them after Jesus is gone. They see that the Holy Spirit working through them allows them to do the things Jesus has done, surely the memory of this will sustain and empower them with boldness in the apostolic mission. They have seen Jesus do many things but they lack the faith for the feeding of this multitude that has followed based on their work and ministry. Jesus, however, challenges their faith one more time, is there anything of which He is not capable? Can you imagine the conversation among them as they carry out the instructions Jesus gave to have this crowd sit down and their conversation as they picked up the leftovers? They knew what resources they had and they know that there is more leftover than what they started with, even after feeding 5000 people.

The sailors ignored Paul’s word of warning/prophecy in leaving Crete because they were so focused on the destination. Their failure to heed the warning cost them both the destination and the ship. While he does get in an “I told you so”, he gives encouragement that, in spite of the loss, their lives will be saved. The decision still needed to be made to trust God and lose the ship in order to save the lives. Have you ever faced such a decision, to let go of something important and choose the more important? Our priorities sometimes need correction.

I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

12 October 2010
Psalm 5, 6; Jonah 1:1-17a; Acts 26:24-27:8; Luke 8:40-56

Jonah gets a word from the Lord to cry out against the wicked city of Nineveh and flees in the opposite direction. It would appear at this point that the reason might be fear, but that assumption, as we shall see, would be wrong. We don’t know why he is being unfaithful to his call at this juncture in the story. We do, however, know that Jonah is able to sleep through a storm that frightens men who sail on the seas for a living. Recent commentators have suggested that this is due to depression but it seems more likely that Jonah is simply content in the belief that he can run away from God. All on board are crying out to their gods and Jonah is implored to join his voice with theirs until they decide to cast lots to see who is to blame and the lot falls on Jonah, God is sovereign in all things. Jonah admits this is all his fault but he is unwilling to take action himself to deal with the problem, leaving it all in their hands. He is apparently willing to die rather than go on this mission for the Lord. The men don’t want to kill Jonah but finally come to the conclusion they have no choice but first pray to the Lord for forgiveness and then offer worship to Him when the sea becomes calm. Jonah discovers that the Lord isn’t done with him yet.

As Jesus returns from the land of the Gerasenes, with all the uncleanness He has contracted there a leader in the synagogue comes to ask him to come heal his daughter. Whatever scruples he may have had about being clean are out the window if his daughter can be saved. On the way, Jesus is touched by another one who is unclean, the woman with the issue of blood, and yet her uncleanness is taken away by the contact with Jesus and she is healed. When Jesus calls her out for touching Him what was she thinking was the purpose of His request to know? Was He going to be angry with her for doing what was forbidden? Instead, she receives not only healing but also commendation for her faith. Jesus presses on. The leader, according to the law, now should not allow Jesus to enter his home due to the contact with the woman but he is learning that some things are more important than others, people over all. His faith in Jesus is also rewarded.

Agrippa, like Festus and Felix before him, can find no reason for this trial to go forward, Paul has done nothing deserving death. Agrippa acknowledges that the only reason to continue the process is that Paul, as a Roman citizen, has made an appeal to Caesar and therefore he has the right to be heard at the highest level. Can Paul withdraw the appeal at this point? Luke re-inserts himself into the journey here, using the first person plural pronoun “we” to describe the many trials and tribulations on the trip to Rome. His account of the trials is clearly a first-hand accounting, not speculation or hearsay.

The Lord is king for ever and ever;
the nations shall perish from his land.
O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

11 October 2010
Psalm 1, 2, 3; Micah 7:1-7; Acts 26:1-23; Luke 8:26-39

Micah looks for faithfulness in the land and can find no one. What a sad commentary on the state of the nation’s religious life. The time of judgment has come and now the prophet alone stands and waits for the salvation of the Lord. He is not passively waiting, however, he is attempting to draw attention to the situation and is warning any who will listen and he is watching for the salvation of the Lord, he is as one of the wise virgins whose lamp had oil in it as she waited for the bridegroom.

Jesus had only one reason for coming here to the land of the Gerasenes, to save this man from the torment in which he was living. Religious Jews avoided coming to this place yet Jesus got into the boat and deliberately came here to what would have been a nightmare of uncleanness for a Jewish person. He came to one with a demon, living among the tombs, who was bleeding and then pigs get involved, religiously He wouldn’t be able to get the uncleanness off of Himself for weeks. Why did He have such compassion on this solitary man? Whose prayers had reached Him? At the end the man wants to join Jesus but He will not allow it and, unlike His attitude with Jewish people He healed, Jesus tells the man to go and tell all that has been done for him. He won’t be coming back here and the word needs to be spread prior to the apostolic mission that will come later to tell, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”

Paul gives King Agrippa his personal testimony of the encounter with Jesus and then preaches the Gospel to him. His testimony is that he is one of them, the only real difference between Paul and his accusers is that he believes Messiah has come and that now is the time to make the decision about whether indeed Jesus was the one promised through Moses and all the prophets. It is a simple process. When we think about what does it mean to believe in Jesus we should think at least partially through Jewish eyes, is Jesus the one promised in the Old Testament? If so, then, as Paul says, we are to repent, turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. If not, we are caught in the trap of the law we cannot obey and for which we will be judged.

Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

10 October 2010
Psalm 146, 147; Micah 6:1-8; 1 Cor. 4:9-16; Matt. 15:21-28

In modern parlance, the Lord, through the prophet, is saying, “Bring it!” He is offering to hear their complaint and their case against Him for the judgment He is bringing against them. His case is that He is sovereign, faithful and gracious, He chose them and saved them, bringing them out of Egypt and giving them the land. What we see in verses 6 and 7 is that they have decided religious practices have become superstition rather than worship. They have offered sacrifice in order to placate the Lord rather than in worship and offering for sin is no substitute for righteous living, choosing to submit to His lordship. Three simple things are asked, do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. Nothing has changed.

The Syro-Phoenician woman will not take either being ignored or rebuffed as a final answer to her plea. She is desperate on behalf of her child and will not rest until her case is heard and it is based in the belief in the goodness and loving-kindness of Jesus. His answer to her is offensive in that she and her people are compared with dogs (Ken Bailey says that this retort was to shock the disciples in re their attitudes towards foreigners) and yet she is not dissuaded from continuing to ask and believe. Her response is amazing in that she is not offended but uses the metaphor to her advantage, I am willing to accept my position and yet even the dogs get the crumbs. In our worship we have the Prayer of Humble Access which says, in part, “We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.” We know that we are children of God but at the same time we don’t presume on the relationship, we walk humbly before our God as this woman has done while at the same time asking for justice and extending kindness in His Name.

Paul’s injunction to the Corinthian church is that be imitators of him. I can’t imagine saying that to anyone, I am more likely to say that you should do as I say, not as I do, but that says more about my own failure to follow Christ closely enough than it does about any arrogance on Paul’s part. He has decided truly to follow Jesus, he has made it a point to obey all that Jesus has commanded. Paul’s life as a Pharisee was one characterized by obedience to the law, for religious reasons, it had become a way of life to him to live under the lordship of the law. In Christ, we see a different Paul who understood what it meant not to be respected and honored but instead to be the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things and to count that as Godly living. He is seeking not his own honor but the honor of his Lord by his life and is living into the command of the Lord through Micah.

Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.

9 October 2010
Psalm 137, 144; Micah 5:1-4,10-15; Acts 25:13-27; Luke 8:16-25

Micah prophesies that the Lord’s anointed, the deliverer, will come from Bethlehem, the city of David, the place where Jesus was born. This one will rule and will establish justice, equity and peace, the rule and reign of God in righteousness. In that day, the people of Israel will worship only Yahweh, all other idols and objects of worship will be removed from the land and they will become truly His. Do we long for that day when He rules supreme over the earth? Do we have a vision of what that would look like, God’s will done on earth as it already is in heaven, for His Kingdom to come? Do we work here on earth to show the world what that Kingdom entails? How can we do something tangible to show that to the world?

The disciples see that Jesus can command the wind and waves and they will obey Him. Surely they were thinking of creation when the Lord spoke and the elements obeyed perfectly. That is a stark contrast to human beings who disobeyed from the start. Jesus says that those who are His family are those who know and do the will of God, just as He Himself was doing, blood means little if they are not obedient to the word and will of the Father. Our role is to be like Jesus in every respect, obedient even unto death if it so please the Father. We don’t like pain or suffering so we opt out of that program, we hide our hope of eternal life under a bushel basket for fear of losing what we have here.

Festus says to Agrippa both privately and publicly, that he can find no reason for Rome to be involved in this matter concerning Paul as all the charges made against him relate only to religious superstition of the Jews. No one knows what to do with Paul or these charges and Paul won’t help them out by agreeing to go to Jerusalem. His appeal is to Roman justice, the right to face the accuser in public, be presented with charges, and provide a defense before an “impartial judge.” He knows what happened in the case of Jesus and is unwilling to allow himself to be judged by those who have already decided.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
who subdues the peoples under him.
O LORD, what is man that thou dost regard him, or the son of man that thou dost think of him?
Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow.
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down! Touch the mountains that they smoke!

8 October 2010
Psalm 140, 142; Micah 3:9-4:5; Acts 24:24-25:12; Luke 8:1-15

Though today the city is full of injustice and inequity, there will come a day when this is not the case. The nation was meant to be a people and a land where justice was done, where the rest of the world could see a better way to live and have community, but they could not see it because God’s people were greedy and hungry for what the world had to offer. They were no different from the world. Micah speaks of the day when true justice reigns and all the world will come to Jerusalem to learn and to live according to the way of the Lord. Peace and prosperity will be established in the name of the Lord by those who follow His ways.

The parable of the soils explains why some follow and some do not. Jesus tells us that there will be those who hear the message but who do not follow it because they are consumed with the things of the world, there will be others who spring up but do not last as they have no roots, there will be others whose faith is choked out by the weeds, the stuff of earth, and then there will be those in whom the Word takes root and through them, God produces a bountiful crop. I am thankful that in my life I can see seasons of all the above and that God was faithful in working on the ground of my heart, improving it so that eventually His Word would be established there. Don’t despair, He is still at work in you to bring about the harvest!

Felix had left his wife and married this Drusilla so when Paul began to speak of self-control he was speaking to him. When he spoke of justice we know he also spoke directly to Felix as we see him expecting a bribe rather than by being committed to justice. Future judgment was for Felix as one who had neither self-control nor a commitment to justice and Felix wanted no part of Paul’s message since it applied to him. Finally, before Festus, Paul appeals to Caesar rather than be delivered back to Jerusalem for trial, he knows that he won’t be given justice there. He is unwilling to give the council power of life or death, only Caesar, so Festus says, “Fine, go to Rome.” How sad it is that Paul has a greater expectation of justice from the civil authorities than from what were once his friends and allies in the faith.

I cry to thee, O LORD; I say, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.
Give heed to my cry; for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are too strong for me!
Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to thy name!
The righteous will surround me; for thou wilt deal bountifully with me.

7 October 2010
Psalm 131, 132; Micah 3:1-8; Acts 24:1-23; Luke 7:36-50

Justice has always been a prime consideration for God. Among the Lord’s people justice shall reign and it was intended to be blind justice, preferring no one according to their place in society, whether poor or rich. The law is just in that it provides for everyone, the poor in the land shall be able to glean the fields, the edges of the field shall not be harvested by the owner so that the poor will have something. All the land is to revert to its ancestral ownership every 50th year so that it is recognized that the land belongs to the Lord who has given it to tribes and families, it is not theirs to sell in perpetuity. Here, Micah says that there is no justice in the land. The accusation is incredibly strong, “…tear the skin from off my people, and their flesh from off their bones; who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces, and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a caldron.” This is no simple miscarriage of justice, it is beyond measure. Because none have spoken against it, there will be no signs or words of prophecy other than Micah’s who alone has power because he speaks truth.

Simon the Pharisee has shown Jesus no respect at all in failing to offer basic hospitality, much less the hospitality due to visiting dignitary. When a well-known person was entertained in a home the windows were left open so that the community could hear what this person had to say, eavesdropping was not considered bad manners, thus the presence of this woman of ill-repute. She apparently sees the disrespect shown to Jesus and begins to do extraordinary things to rectify the slight. When she wipes his feet with her hair she has truly crossed a line in a culture that only allowed a woman to let down her hair in the presence of her husband in private. The intimacy of the scene is shocking in its details. The parable Jesus tells shows that he knows her and he also knows Simon and if Simon missed the point, he could hardly fail to miss it when Jesus applies it. Simon too is a sinner, like the woman and forgiveness is forgiveness, whether small or great.

The high priest and the others assume flattery will get them everywhere and employ it liberally before stating their case against Paul. Paul refutes their accusations and attempts again to divide them along lines of belief in the resurrection from the dead. Why did Felix have an accurate knowledge of the Way? It seems he saw that the case had not been made on which he could convict Paul and his granting him certain freedoms and the ability to have visitors attend his needs shows which way he was leaning in the matter of justice.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard,
upon the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life for evermore.

6 October 2010
Psalm 119:145-176; Micah 2:1-13; Acts 23:23-35; Luke 7:18-35

Micah’s complaint is not only against idolatry and the worship of other gods, it is also concerned with social justice. The wealthy have power and use it to seize the land and property of the poor. They are able to do what their heart desires, whatever they covet they have the power to take, therefore the time is coming when the Lord will take from them and the taunt will go up that they are ruined. Apparently Micah’s prophecy was not well received, he was told not to preach such things as they were never going to happen but Micah is convinced that indeed this day is soon approaching. He sarcastically says that if someone instead came and preached of wine and strong drink he would be gladly accepted so great is their dissolution. The hope is of a remnant whom the Lord will shepherd Himself and protect in the fold from the enemies.

In the last century commentary on this passage has deviated dramatically from historical thought. Today the commentaries tend to see this as a dark night of the soul for John, doubts overtaking certainty and faith, an imprisoned man sending out his disciples asking Jesus if John had been mistaken in his belief that this was Messiah. They see John as searching for answers to the meaning of his suffering. Historically, it has been believed that John was not struggling at all but continuing to point to Jesus and sent his disciples to see Jesus in order that their own faith might be strengthened. Jesus repeats his charge that began his ministry from the scroll of Isaiah but leaves out the setting free of the captives, John’s plight. Afterwards, when the disciples have left, Jesus strongly affirms John that of all those born among women none is greater than John the Baptist. He holds him up as a part of God’s plan and as a judgment against those who have rejected John, the religious establishment, that he and Jesus as complementary signs that these leaders have not taken as pointing to God, and have rejected both based on reasoning that contradicts itself.

Paul is sent to Caesarea to the governor Felix. Felix was a corrupt, greedy and licentious man who was married to the daughter of Herod. Paul was conveyed to him under cover of darkness for his protection against those who plotted against him. The letter that accompanied him clearly says that there is no civil charge proffered by his accusers, this dispute relates only to Jewish law. Felix decides that he will hear the accusations against Paul rather than letting him go free based on this letter. Like John, Paul will wait under guard to see what his fate will be.

Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble.
I hope for thy salvation, O LORD, and I do thy commandments.
My soul keeps thy testimonies; I love them exceedingly.
I keep thy precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before thee.
Let my cry come before thee, O LORD; give me understanding according to thy word!

5 October 2010
Psalm 121, 122, 123; Micah 1:1-9; Acts 23:12-24; Luke 7:1-17

It isn’t usually a winsome thing to say, as Micah does, “Hear, you peoples, all of you; hearken, O earth, and all that is in it; and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.” You know that his prophecy isn’t likely to lift you up on eagles wings when those are the first words he writes after he tells you who he is. Verse 5 says that the sins of Israel and Judah are their places of worship. The problem is that the worship of the people has not been given to Yahweh alone and for this apostasy great judgment is coming upon them, utter ruin. He is speaking before the fall of the northern kingdom in 722BC. His prophecy is not one of hopeful promise of return, only of judgment on Israel for its idolatry.

In the story of the centurion we see the appeal of the Jewish people to Jesus based on the worthiness of the centurion to receive healing and that worthiness is predicated on two things, he loves the nation and he built the synagogue. This man is clearly a gentile yet the Jews believe him to be worthy of Jesus healing his servant. The man, however, has no sense of worthiness at all, “I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.” This represents a level of humility that is almost unimaginable in this society. That a Roman centurion would demur in such fashion before an itinerant Jewish rabbi is unthinkable yet this man recognizes Jesus as more than simply a teacher, He recognizes Him as a commander of great import, one who is able to command sickness and it will obey as his men obey his commands. His worthiness is based on his faith in Jesus, nowhere in Israel has Jesus seen such faith. Not for the reasons the Jews advance does Jesus heal the servant, but for the faith that is properly placed in Jesus. The miracles continue in the rising to life of the son of the widow in Nain and the word began to spread about Jesus.

A plot against the life of Paul is exposed and foiled. They are so angry with him for his teaching to the Gentiles and the perception of his teaching against the law that they are obsessed with ending this nonsense. A vow is taken by forty men to neither eat nor drink until Paul is dead. Fortunately, providentially, the plot became known to the son of Paul’s sister (can 40 people possibly keep a secret) whom the Lord uses to save Paul’s life from these schemers. The Lord had promised Paul would give testimony in Rome and therefore the plans of men would not prevent that from happening.

To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he has mercy upon us.

4 October 2010
Psalm 106:1-18; Hosea 14:1-9; Acts 22:30-23:11; Luke 6:39-49

At the time Solomon dedicated the Temple the Lord spoke and foretold the apostasy of the people but also prescribed how to return and receive His blessing. “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chron 7.13-14) This was the same basic message Moses gave the people in Deuteronomy and it is the same message Hosea gives here in this word, calling the people to repent in order to regain the favor of God. They are to turn away from false gods and idols and they are to know that it is the strength of the Lord that wins battles for them, not superior weaponry. We tend to rely on other things and fail to give credit to the Lord for all the blessings of our lives, it is important that we remember “All things come of thee O Lord.”

Jesus gives a set of proverbs for living as a disciple. At the end of the proverbs He enjoins us to do as He has commanded us to do. It is not right to call Him “Lord” when we do not actually allow Him to be Lord over our lives. Embedded in that teaching is a promise that if we will indeed follow Him then we will be founded on a rock. That does not mean that no trouble will come into our lives, it means that when trouble comes we will be able to withstand it. We are called to live according to the teaching of Jesus. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28.18-20) He said to teach those we disciple to obey everything He has commanded. It isn’t just about knowing the Word, it is about doing it.

It seems likely that Paul did not know that Ananais was the high priest, the office changed hands regularly within the family of Caiphas and Paul was not regularly in Jerusalem, he was not here being obtuse or disingenuous. His defense tactic was to divide his enemies against one another. He recognized that there were natural theological divisions among the council along the line of whether they believed in the resurrection from the dead (Sadducees did not) and used Jesus’ resurrection as a wedge against them. It works! After he is removed from the mayhem he has caused, Paul is given assurance in a visitation that he will indeed get to Rome to bear witness. Paul trusted God in all things, he was founded solidly on the rock and believed that whatever His lot, so long as He followed the command of God all would be well as it would be God’s will.

Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!
Who can utter the mighty doings of the LORD, or show forth all his praise?
Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!

3 October 2010
Psalm 118; Hosea 13.4-14; I Cor. 2.6-16; Matt 14.1-12

The Lord is a jealous God, He told them that from the beginning, He will not share His glory with another. His people have strayed and they have followed after other gods. They have ascribed their prosperity and their well-being to either men or gods and the time has come to take all that away from them. God’s wrath and anger are real but they are also balanced against His love for His people. Those on whom He sets His love are also those who have taken on the yoke of obedience and who have accepted the conditions for His love and blessing. While the penalty is death, the Lord has consistently attempted to woo back His wayward people. There will, however, come a time when it is no longer possible.

Jesus has come to the attention of Herod and that is not altogether a good thing. Matthew tells us of the fate of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod so that we will know something of his character. Herod apparently was getting something out of John’s message but because he had married his brother’s wife after divorcing his first wife. She was also his niece. John apparently spoke against this marriage and Herodias wanted to put an end to the opposition. Salome’s dance so pleased Herod that he was willing to give her half his kingdom, the same offer the king made to Esther upon the banquet she had prepared for he and Haman. The time had come and the trap was sprung against John. Herod was insecure enough to be afraid of losing face before his court and too weak to step back from his promise, the ministry of John was ended, which had to be a painful thing for Jesus to hear of his own cousin.

What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Paul says that we can only know the spirit of a man if we possess that same Spirit and we can only know a man’s mind if we have his spirit. When Christ takes up residence in us through the Holy Spirit we are able to discern spiritual and heavenly things in a way that is not available to those who do not have the Spirit. We can live frustrated lives of argument with the world but Paul says we possess a wisdom that is not available to the world. What, then, should be our attitude towards those who are not in Christ Jesus? How do we share our faith when they lack the interpretive key to understand the truth? We must not take pride in our knowledge as though it were some “gnosis” that could be obtained by effort, but recognize and be thankful for the gift that it is. We will never be able to argue anyone into the kingdom, we can, however, pray that those with whom we share will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit to receive our testimony.

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
I thank thee that thou hast answered me and hast become my salvation.
Thou art my God, and I will give thanks to thee; thou art my God, I will extol thee. O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!

2 October 2010
Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Hosea 11:1-9; Acts 22:17-29; Luke 6:27-38

This passage from Hosea is one of the most beautiful images of the relationship between Yahweh and His people. The imagery includes teaching a child to walk, lifting an infant to the cheeks, bending down to feed, and simply loving a child. The parental metaphor is easily understood and from that we can understand the lovingkindness that says, “I can’t allow my anger to burn completely, I can’t stop hoping the child become an adult will return.” Yes, God is sovereign and He is omniscient, but the love of parent for wayward child seems to be foolishness in its hope and Hosea captures that here in this passage. The Lord has decided on a course of action that will return the child to the parent and it is part tough love but part forebearance.

Love your enemies and be merciful are two commands that are difficult to hear and even more difficult to practice. They are, however, qualities of God that Jesus lived into completely. From the cross He asked for the Father to forgive those who crucified Him and taunted Him. He died for those of us who Paul says were formerly enemies of the cross. Instead of meting out judgment and condemning us to an eternity apart from Him, He offers us life eternal. It can be done but it requires us to live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Sometimes we need others to help up love our enemies. Rather than joining in the criticism, we sometimes need to stop the conversation and pray for the other. We need to learn to leave vengeance to God and lay down the stones we are prepared to throw. The only way we can do that is to remember our own need of mercy and grace, that we can make no claim to deserving God’s love.

It is when Paul says that he was sent to the Gentiles that the anger of the crowd is roused against him. The uproar is amazing to see, “shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air.” Why is the mission to the Gentiles so controversial? That God would “extend the franchise” beyond the covenant community is unthinkable and unconscionable. Paul’s reaction could have been, “Don’t be angry with me, be angry with God.” In Isaiah 49.6 we see that God indeed sent the Messiah to the entire world. Simeon said that he had seen the Messiah, the light to lighten the Gentiles, the glory of thy people Israel. The problem was that they had rejected this one as Messiah and he can therefore not be the Messiah. They rejected not only Messiah but also the mission of Messiah. Love your enemies? No way.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples,
and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
and let your glory be over all the earth.

1 October 2010
Psalm 102; Hosea 10:1-15; Acts 21:37-22:16; Luke 6:12-26

On our paper money we find the words, “In God we trust.” Do we? The people of God were trusting in Yahweh at some level but they had hedged their bets and were making supplication to other gods just in case they had some control over the factors of production. The place looked nice and prosperous, it even looked religious, they had many altars and nice pillars and even an idol. They had ascribed their prosperity to another rather than the One who had made covenant with them and who had been faithful to His promises. Their priorities seem to have been skewed towards prosperity rather than worship and the way to win them back was to wreak havoc on their prosperity. In an irreligious and technocratic age like our own, when we believe in the sciences rather than God, how does He get our attention?

Jesus spends the night in prayer before choosing the twelve from among all those who were following Him and then begins to teach the entire crowd that has gathered. His teaching it blessing and woe, much like Moses’ speech in Deuteronomy. Moses, however, is giving them a lesson on the future, Jesus is speaking in the present. Moses tells what will happen if they follow God and what will happen if they disobey. Jesus is present and therefore the time is now to decide. The message could be distilled to “seek the Lord.” If they set their store by things of earth like wealth, reputation and earthly happiness, they have received all they will get but if they take a God’s-eye view of things and have the mind of God, they will receive their reward in heaven. Much of Jesus’ teaching is based on these basic lessons. The question always comes back to “Why are you doing what you’re doing?”

What did Paul possibly think he had to gain by giving his testimony about his conversion? He was a man who preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ whenever he got the chance. He had been one of the most religious people of his day and yet what he knew was that his religion had not gotten him a single step closer to God than if he had done none of it. He hadn’t recognized the Messiah, he had rejected true righteousness in favor of religious righteousness. He knew the Bible but he didn’t know the God of the Bible. If we start with the understanding we are beloved, we will do all that we do not to win His love or to gain His favor but to return His love and seek His presence.

Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
but you are the same, and your years have no end.